Massive Power Outage Hits Coachella Valley

Electricity was restored to the Coachella Valley Friday morning following a massive power outage that struck parts of Southern California Thursday and ranged from Mexico to Phoenix.

The blackout affected 150,000 Imperial Irrigation District customers in Palm Desert, Indio, Bermuda Dunes, La Quinta, Sun City-Palm Desert, Mecca, North Shore and Thousand Palms.

Power was restored to some in the valley after about 30 minutes, and the rest overnight, according to Rosa Maria Gonzales of the Imperial Irrigation District.

"It did not originate in our system, it's an electrical grid disturbance,'' Gonzales said.

South Palm Desert was not largely affected by the outage, which began about 3:30 p.m. as temperatures reached well above 110 degrees.

Some homes in were without power Thursday.

The outage was triggered "after a 500kV high-voltage line from AZ to CA tripped out of service," according to a statement from the California Independent System Operator.

The Arizona power company APS reported the outage may have been
related to a procedure an employee was carrying out in the North Gila
substation northeast of Yuma.

The IID said its system was 100 percent up and running, but asked any customers still without power to call (800) 303-7756.

Toughing it out

Earlier in the day Thursday, traffic signals were out at Highway 111 and Washington Street in La Quinta, and deputies arrived just before 4 p.m. to help control traffic. Other signals were out as well across the valley, causing traffic delays.

The city of Indio set up a cooling center, which opened at 8 p.m., at Fullenwinder Auditorium at the Riverside County Fairgrounds, 46350 Arabia St.

The lack of air-conditioning was the biggest worry for most valley residents. In Indio, 66 patients were relocated from the Desert Springs Health Care Facility because a back-up generator failed, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.

One person was taken to JFK Memorial Hospital for treatment of heat related injuries, the fire department reported.

Coachella Valley resident John Salma told Patch the power was out in Thousand Palms and he was on his way to pick up his kids from daycare.

"Anyone want to loan me a generator?" Salma joked on his Twitter account.

Cat, who did not wish to give her last name, said she was sitting outside with the neighbors in La Quinta waiting for the electricity to come back on.

"Power here is coming up block by block and hopefully we are next,'' she told Patch, adding that she works in Pala, which also did not have power.

"We will not know until tomorrow if we have power and we will open,'' Cat said.

It was a full house for the first night of NFL football at the Beer Hunter in La Quinta.

“It went out for 20 minutes and its been on ever since,” according to an employee who did not wish to be named.

Outage in San Diego and Orange counties

The outage occurred at nearly the same time as a large-scale power interruption that impacted 1.4 million customers of San Diego Gas & Electric in San Diego County, with customers also affected in Mexico and Baja California. SDGE reported that the problem originated in Arizona, knocking out both of its major transmission corridors, according to CNS.

Power was restored to San Diego County, but schools and federal courts remained closed, according to officials.

Thursday's unprecendented outage shut down the two reactors at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, but the facility did not lose power or experience safety issues, according to its operator.

During the outage, schools, businesses and gas stations closed. In addition, commuters jammed roadways, residents packed hospitals, and at least two sewage pumps failed, contaminating a lagoon and a river that feeds into San Diego Bay.

Although power is back on, SDG&E encouraged residents to conserve
electricity today, saying the system remains "fragile.'' Residents were
encouraged to avoid the use of air conditioners, or to keep it at 78 degrees.

Most power was restored to South Orange County residents Thursday night.

Trisha of Laguna Hills told Patch she was coping with the outage on Thursday by "sitting in (her) backyard with a cool breeze."

Have you been impacted by the power outage? We want to hear from you. E-mail us at jessica.davis@patch.com.

Check back for updates on this developing story. City News Service contributed to this report.